Tibet tourism sees rosy start in Q1

LHASA - Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region registered a 30.5-percent hike in tourist arrivals in the first three months of the year, introducing a promising outlook for the region's tourism industry.

Tibet received 300,599 tourists from January to March, a senior official with the regional tourism bureau said Wednesday.

Wang Songping, deputy chief of the bureau, said revenues also saw a 31.1-percent increase compared with the same period last year, reaching 300 million yuan ($48 million) in the first quarter.

Wang attributed the growing number of visitors to an increasing variety of cultural attractions, as well as winter tourism packages.

The region is expecting 12.6 million tourist arrivals and 15.8 billion yuan in tourism revenues this year, local authorities said.